Ghosts season 2

[Norton Canes]

Starts Mondays the 21sts of Septembers.

Dooka dooka

[The Lurker]

Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVYrr63k9vQ

[DrGreggles]

The WHOLE series 2 will be dropping on iPlayer on the 21st.

[paruses]

Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVYrr63k9vQ

Just watched that on my phone and it didn't seem much of a trailer yet almost all the comments say "this looks amazing". Did I miss something? Wasn't 90% of it reaction shots or 1 second cutaways?

Still, am really looking forward to where they take it.

[Norton Canes]

According to an interview with director Tom Kingsley, they originally wanted to shoot the whole 3-odd hours of season 2 as one single take:

As you know, I really wanted Ghosts 2 to be the first ever TV series that was filmed in one shot with no cuts, but the BBC forced me to stop because it was "making people cry". They offered a compromise: given that the single take would have to be divided into six different episodes, each broadcast a week apart, why not film it in six takes – one for each episode? But I didn't want to compromise, so in the end we just filmed it like the first series. And maybe it's all the better for it. Of course, if we HAD filmed it in one take then we wouldn't have needed to edit it – and the series would have been on TV a couple of months ago

[neveragain]

That sounds like he's joking.

[paruses]

That sounds like he's joking.

Yes. I read it late last night and it sounds like Partridge talking about directing Swallow (which would be amazing)

[Norton Canes]

Well, more of a 'The Builders' than a 'The Psychiatrist' that first episode, perhaps; but good all the same.

[Glyn]

Is it only BBC Wales who have cocked about with the scheduling of this ? Had it down for Monday evening but shows up as 7.30 tomorrow now.

[Alberon]

Isn't it all up on the iplayer?

I enjoyed it. The little moments tend to be funnier than the main plot, but that's no bad thing really.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I liked the first episode and there were lots of cute moments, but it was just fairly fun and not as good as the majority of the first series.

[Alberon]

Robin the caveman is as good as always, but Pat the scout master had the best bits such as listing all his skills and ending on archery.

And you've got to admire a good fanny joke.

[Icehaven]

Watched the first 4 episodes today and thoroughly enjoyed, very glad to have it back.

[Icehaven]

This might have been discussed in the S1 thread but have there been many/any caveman ghosts on screen before?

[Alberon]

I can't think of one. It's a great idea though.

When I was much younger I used to read The Unexplained magazine about the paranormal. I'm sure one or more articles discussed the idea that ghosts fade over time. IIRC there was supposedly a grey lady (funnily enough) that over the decades lost definition and in the modern day its just a cold feeling. I suppose that plays into another theory that ghosts are just 3D recordings of people who were alive at the time.

It's all bollocks of course, but that's apparently why you rarely see ghosts as old as the Romans, for instance.

[Icehaven]

I can't think of one. It's a great idea though.

When I was much younger I used to read The Unexplained magazine about the paranormal. I'm sure one or more articles discussed the idea that ghosts fade over time. IIRC there was supposedly a grey lady (funnily enough) that over the decades lost definition and in the modern day its just a cold feeling. I suppose that plays into another theory that ghosts are just 3D recordings of people who were alive at the time.

It's all bollocks of course, but that's apparently why you rarely see ghosts as old as the Romans, for instance.

Explains why so many of our "ghosts" are Victorian or 17th century but not much further back. I want dinosaur ghosts!

[SpiderChrist]

First episode felt slightly underwhelming, but that's probably because my expectations were so high. Looking forward to watching the rest.

[dead-ced-dead]

I love how this season goes into the back stories of the Ghosts. It's really moving at some parts, as well as being consistently funny and silly.

[The Mollusk]

I love how this season goes into the back stories of the Ghosts. It's really moving at some parts, as well as being consistently funny and silly.

Not watched any of this series yet, but I'm glad to hear they're doing more of this. Series 1 was decent but it was also often quite unfocused or too busy. Pat's death flashback scene and subsequent plot arc about his family's annual visit was far and away the highlight of the whole series for me so I'm looking forward to seeing more of that stuff.

[SpiderChrist]

Watched the 2nd and 3rd episodes last night. The Captain's backstory made me do a tear from one of my eyes. Love this show.

[Rizla]

I've watched both series over the last few nights for the first time and I'll just chime in, excellent excellent work, loved it. Brilliant writing, seems like there were different combinations on individual episodes which is kind of a US tv way of doing things, worked really well to keep each episode fresh. Handful of big laughs each episode and a few genuinely touching moments. Fucking bravo lads.

[The Roofdog]

I can't think of one. It's a great idea though.

When I was much younger I used to read The Unexplained magazine about the paranormal. I'm sure one or more articles discussed the idea that ghosts fade over time. IIRC there was supposedly a grey lady (funnily enough) that over the decades lost definition and in the modern day its just a cold feeling. I suppose that plays into another theory that ghosts are just 3D recordings of people who were alive at the time.

It's all bollocks of course, but that's apparently why you rarely see ghosts as old as the Romans, for instance.

Sounds a lot like the premise behind The Stone Tape

EDIT: Oh, which is now actually referred to as 'The Stone Tape theory' apparently which I guess is what you were referring to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Tape

[Alberon]

I'd completely forgotten The Stone Tape, but yes that's it.

[Sherman Krank]

'The Stone Tape theory'

We know that magnetic tape can record both audio and video and that naturally occurring magnetic fields exist and I'm fairly sure there's also been some research done that suggests applying magnetic fields to a brain can distort the perception of reality in both humans and animals (for example: making the subject feel cold or scared for no apparent reason). So to me it doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility that the topography of a location or the particular dimensions of a room when combined with certain atmospheric conditions can allow cloud like magnetic fields to become strong enough to briefly record sounds and/or images and then later when the field is again significantly strong react with the brains of certain people passing through the field causing them to experience these recordings to some degree.

As for the show, I banged through them all in one sitting as is my want these days.
I thought it was pretty much more of the same which was alright but I feel it's one of those show I like but will have forgotten existed a few years after it ends.

[The Mollusk]

Ploughed through this over the last weekend. It was a noticeable improvement on the first series, but I think that was largely due to the fact that the characters are better established now. The episodes are still quite unfocused on the whole, and even though the show is very enjoyable, at the end of it all I still find myself dissatisfied and wanting more. This is just my personal opinion, but I think Alison and Mike are really quite boring characters (especially Mike who I think is crap) and any emphasis on their storyline often has me losing interest. The wedding day wobble in the finale was clearly intended to have more emotional impact than it did, but I just didn't really care, whereas Pat's side story was far more touching.

I would be far more satisfied with this show if Alison and Mike were further in the background, and more time was given to exploring the history of the ghosts. I find it strange that their backstories are by far the most rewarding aspects of the show, and across 12 episodes we've only touched on a small percentage of them in any real detail. The Captain's story was brilliant (Ben Willbond excels here) but bizarrely we still don't know how he died. I'm not saying the two plots need to be linked or even covered in the same episode, but it's a good example of how the show struggles to find a decent amount of balance or exposition.

[The Roofdog]

The backstories were some of the highlights but not sure I'd want it to turn into Lost where they just cycle through each character getting a flashback each week. Alison has to be the main driver of the show really: it'd get pretty boring if they had to do something like the burglary episode every week (as good as it was). Plus I think Mike had some of the best gags this series

Spoiler alert

I'd kill for this Angel :)

[close]

[shh]

Yes I'm struggling to think of another sitcom where the two nominally lead characters are both 'straight men'. They're each fine at everyman/woman (eg stath, dead pixels) but when you put them together it veers dangerously close to a soap. Still I'll be here for S3.

[The Mollusk]

The backstories were some of the highlights but not sure I'd want it to turn into Lost where they just cycle through each character getting a flashback each week. Alison has to be the main driver of the show really: it'd get pretty boring if they had to do something like the burglary episode every week (as good as it was). Plus I think Mike had some of the best gags this series

Spoiler alert

I'd kill for this Angel :)

[close]

I agree, it's a catch-22 that Alison and Mike are the central point around which the ghosts and the house revolve in order for the show to move along in the present day. I just wish they weren't such dull characters. I don't have any way of suggesting how this could be improved upon, though, and this is how the show is both cursed and blessed by having such a large ensemble cast to juggle. You can't subtract too much of one factor without it directly impacting the other.

I haven't seen Yonderland, but the reason Horrible Histories works with a large cast of writers/performers is that it's a sketch show, and giving proportionate screen time to everyone is far easier. I admire the ambition of Ghosts and it has a high enough success rate to keep me consistently interested but that lack of balance is still an issue for me, and it stops me from really falling in love with the show.

[kidsick5000]

It's all bollocks of course, but that's apparently why you rarely see ghosts as old as the Romans, for instance.

Roman ghosts are big in York

[Bently Sheds]

Jim Howick's high pitched exclamation of "What's wrong with you?" in the first episode was brilliant, as is Farnaby's Blairish hand gestures and off pronunciation of certain words.